When a city wins the right to hold the Olympics, one of the often cited advantages to the region is the catalytic effect upon the urban and transport projects of the host cities. However, with unparalleled access to documents and records, Eva Kassens-Noor questions and challenges this fundamental assertion of host cities who claim to have used the Olympic Games as a way to move forward their urban agendas. In fact, transport dreams to stage the "perfect Games" of the International Olympic Committee and the governments of the host cities have lead to urban realities that significantly differ from the development path the city had set out to accomplish before winning the Olympic bid. Ultimately it is precisely the IOC's influence--and the city's foresight and sophistication (or lack thereof) in coping with it--that determines whether years after the Games there are legacies benefitting the former hosts. The text is supported by revealing interviews from lead host city planners and key documents, which highlight striking discrepancies between media broadcasts and the internal communications between the IOC and host city governments. It focuses on the inside story of the urban and transport change process undergone by four cities (Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, and Athens) that staged the Olympics and forecasts London and Rio de Janeiro's urban trajectories. The final chapter advises cities on how to leverage the Olympic opportunity to advance their long-run urban strategic plans and interests while fulfilling the International Olympic Committee's fundamental requirements. This is a uniquely positioned look at why Olympic cities have --- or do not have --- the transport and urban legacies they had wished for. The book will be of interest to planners, government agencies and those involved in organising future Games.

The legacy created in
pursuit of a mega-event, like the Olympic Games,FIFA World Cup, World’s Fair or the Hajj, can provide tremendous
opportunities for the host to advance urban development. The challenge faced by
cities is how to direct the public and private spending on desired legacies to
support their pre-bidurban agendas. To provide
guidance for scholars and event planners interested in using events to further
urban development agendas we present a framework for cataloguing the outcomes
associated with mega-event planning.

Chandra, S. and E. Kassens-Noor,(2014). The
Evolution and Diffusion of the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 in India. BMC Infectious Disease: 14:510 doi:10.1186/1471-2334-14-510

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/14/510/abstract

Background

The 1918-19 'Spanish' Influenza was the most devastating pandemic in recent history, with estimates of global mortality ranging from 20 to 50 million. The focal point of the pandemic was India, with an estimated death toll of between 10 and 20 million. We will characterize the pattern of spread, mortality, and evolution of the 1918 influenza across India using spatial or temporal data.

Methods

This study estimates weekly deaths in 213 districts from nine provinces in India. We compute statistical measures of the severity, speed, and duration of the virulent autumn wave of the disease as it evolved and diffused throughout India. These estimates create a clear picture of the spread of the pandemic across India.

Results

Analysis of the timing and mortality patterns of the disease reveals a striking pattern of speed deceleration, reduction in peak-week mortality, a prolonging of the epidemic wave, and a decrease in overall virulence of the pandemic over time.

Conclusions

The findings are consistent with a variety of possible causes, including the changing nature of the dominant viral strain and the timing and severity of the monsoon. The results significantly advance our knowledge of this devastating pandemic at its global focal point.

This paper introduces a useful analytic tool to the health geographic literature.
It illustrates an application of the tool to demonstrate that it can be useful for
pandemic awareness and preparedness efforts. Specifically, it estimates a level of
population density above which policies to socially distance, redistribute or quarantine
populations are likely to be more effective than they are for areas with population
densities that lie below the threshold.

Legacy planning in preparation for the Olympic Games has significantly grown in importance for host cities and the IOC because of the wasteful investments for some previous Games. Since the late 1990’s, the IOC has actively sought to prevent such over-spending through a transfer of knowledge program, in which valuable lessons are passed from one host city to the next. This paper analyzes the transport legacies of the Olympic Games, using original archive material and interviews with key decision-makers in five cities. While previous research into the effects of the Olympic Games on host cities suggests that infrastructural legacies are place-specific, the main argument of this paper is that the transport legacies of the Olympic Games are much more uniform across the host cities. Even though the host cities’ transport systems were intrinsically different pre-Olympics, the author finds similar features of the Olympic Transport System, which were developed through the Transfer of Knowledge program, produced similar legacies. In explaining the creation of transport legacies through Olympically motivated drivers, the author suggests the Olympics might trigger similar transport developments in future host cities. Therefore, city planners can use Olympic transport features as powerful catalysts to accelerate their urban and transport plans.

Assessing legacy impacts entails
monitoring and evaluating the long-terms effects of mega-events which is a
neglected area of research. Most researchers on mega-events focus on
projections before and during the hosting of a mega-event. Yet, the hosting of mega-
events is generally explained in relation to long-term and enduring impacts
which justify the massive investments often associated with hosting mega-events.
This is particularly relevant given the considerable investments required from
public funds, especially in South Africa that is largely a developmental state
with high transformational and developmental demands. The 2010 FIFA World Cup
was viewed as a key opportunity to initiate and promote social, economic,
environmental and sport legacies (amongst others) in South Africa. It is
asserted that legacy evaluations provide a platform for an assessment of
lessons derived from a systematic cost-benefit analysis of a mega-event. This
article provides a critical examination of how legacy is conceptualised in
relation to mega-events, and specifically in the context of South Africa’s
hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It then highlights the key legacy impacts
(both planned and unplanned) that are likely to be derived from the 2010 FIFA
World Cup. Finally, the article suggests a legacy indicator framework for the
medium and longer-tern assessment of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Assessing legacy
impacts is critically important since the effects of mega-events are
increasingly being questioned, specifically in relation to sustainability
imperatives. Furthermore, examining long-term outcomes are central to informing
future bidding and planning of mega-events.

With the rise of Web 2.0, a multitude of new possibilities on how to use these online technologies for active learning has intrigued researchers. While most instructors have used Twitter for in-class discussions, this study explores the teaching practice of Twitter as an active, informal, outside-of-class learning tool. Through a comparative experiment in a small classroom setting, this study asks whether the use of Twitter aids students in learning of a particular subject matter. And if so, in which learning contexts Twitter offers advantages over more traditional teaching methods. This exploratory study showed potential opportunities and pitfalls Twitter could bring to the e-learning community in higher education.

Kassens-Noor, E. (2011). Planning Against Hazards for a Resilient and Sustainable Community Through Adaptive Transportation Systems. Journal of Homeland Security. Edition: Catastrophes and Complex Systems: Transportation

This paper defines the role that transportation can and should play for resilient communities in hazard-prone regions. It lays out the demands and potential supply options in adapting land, marine, and air transportation systems while creating resilient and sustainable communities. It pays particular attention to the integration of adaptive and mitigative transport measures, so as to prevent future impacts of climate change.

Neal, Z., and E. Kassens-Noor (2011). The business passenger niche: Comparing legacy carriers and Southwest during a national recession.Journal of Air Transport Management 17, pp. 231-232

We examine how legacy and low-cost air carriers’ roles in serving business passengers in the US changed during the global economic recession from 2007. Quarterly data is examined to test the impact of a recession on the air travel behavior. We find that since 2007 business passengers represent a declining proportion of legacy carriers’ passenger volume, while they epresent an increasing proportion of Southwest’s passengers. This trend suggests that Southwest’s market niche has shifted, nd that the airline now plays a role similar to that of legacy carriers.

Positive urban impacts of the Olympic Games are often publicized but seldom evaluated empirically. Through the analysis of Olympic transport plans and expert interviews, this paper tests whether transport measures implemented during the Games were sustained in four host cities. The paper consists of three main parts. The first provides an overview of the challenges the Olympics impose on urban transport systems, primarily in terms of passenger transport. The second part reviews the long-term transport goals each city had targeted to achieve through the Olympics. Furthermore, it categorizes the transport measures implemented to handle the Olympic peak demand. The third part analyzes comparatively how the cities changed and in particular, which of the measures that supported the passenger operations have been sustained. Despite the fact that planners, governments, and residents desire to use the Olympic Games as a catalyst for lasting transport improvements, actual implementations were mainly of temporary nature. Only in a few instances, did Olympic efforts lead to lasting benefits for urban transport systems. The paper suggests a long-term, comprehensive planning strategy for using the Olympics as a catalyst for change in order to sustain the momentum the Games give to a host city.

This paper is a pioneering effort in developing key concepts for peak demand transport. Peak demands in transport systems occur during mega-events, e.g. the Olympic Games or mass evacuations, which strain the pre-existing transport capacity far beyond its maximum limit. The author defines mega-events in the transport context as follows: a transport mega-event is an extraordinary temporary combination of mass transport flows, requiring the involvement and coordination of all available metropolitan transport modes with different service levels and requiring temporary and long-term modifications to the transport system. Peak demands as analyzed in this paper go far beyond the regular congestion levels, and constitute exceptional levels of passenger demand. Transport agencies have to extensively plan for those peak demands, for which many agencies start their planning efforts from scratch or draw on common practices within the same mega-event group (e.g. evacuations). This paper intends to jumpstart thinking outside the box by cross-comparing transport practices for various mega-events that have relatively little in common. The contribution of this paper is to identify six common key concepts among those different mega-events. Based on these finding the author concludes that these concepts are indeed applicable to any transport mega-event and suggests further inquiry into the field of peak demand transport planning.

Athens International Airport served as the principal gateway to Greece for athletes and the Olympic Family and for the general public during the Olympic Games of 2004. The airport’s performance during the Games was universally praised. This paper describes many facets of the extensive preparations for the event and of actual operations during the event. These include: principal strategic decisions, coordination with the major stakeholders, air traffic and passenger forecasts, new facilities and upgrading or modifications to existing ones, air traffic slot management, planning for and modeling of the flows of members of the Olympic Family through the airport, and some initiatives with respect to organizational structure, security, and contingency planning. The paper also outlines some more general “lessons” for airports that will handle events of similar magnitude and visibility in the future.

Kassens-Noor, E. (2015). The legacy of the 2004 Olympics for Athens’ transport system. In R. Holt and D. Ruta (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Sport and Legacy: Meeting the Challenge of Major Sports Events. Oxford: Routledge http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415675819/

Kassens-Noor, E. and P. Kayal. India's new globalization strategy and its consequences for urban development: the impact of the 2010 Commonwealth Games on Delhi's transport system. paper presented at the Association of American Geographers. Chicago, April 21-25, 2015

Kassens, E. Sustaining the Momentum: the Olympics as potential Catalysts for enhancing Urban Transport presented at the “Sport Mega-events and their Legacies” Conference in Capetown, South Africa, 2009